by Tao Wong
The lead Templar spoke up, his eyes hard and dismissive. “Initiate Dubough. You have failed your assessment. Spectacularly. It remains to be seen if you will even continue to be allowed to wear the cross.”
Alexa stiffened at his words, a slight tremble appearing in her hands.
“Hey!” I said. “There’s no reason to speak with Alexa that way. We did the best we could, considering you morons refused to give us further information. This could have been avoided if you’d actually been more forthcoming.” When I realized what I’d said, where I said it, I turned toward the spirit and waved a hand weakly. “Though, it’s good that you’re free. Because you’re not going to hurt anyone. Right?”
“I was wrong. You are too foolish to betray me. But if they attack, I will eat them.”
I straightened slightly, trying to decide if I was more insulted or relieved by the spirit’s announcement. What it didn’t do was stop the Templars from continuing to close in.
With a huff, I raised my hand and focused. A Force Shield was basically a projection of power to an area that stopped further motion. One thing I had realized was that Lily’s spell was slightly different from the more common shield spells used by modern mages. Most of those “froze” air directly, stilling the molecules and creating a wall to block attacks or, in other cases, used other physical elements to block attacks. The Force Shield Lily had provided me actually worked by stilling motion in the area of effect. From the outside, it looked the same, though it did offer me a few applications others might not have available.
In this case, it mattered not one whit. The Force Shield I created was basically a wall, set to appear and extend a good nine feet in the air. The size of the wall was a bit problematic, requiring a significant amount of mana, but it did halt the Templars’ advances. With a bump.
“Are you acting against us, mage?” The lead Templar’s hand clenched around his sword as he eyed the wall, a vein along his temple visibly throbbing and highlighting his pale-blond hair. The skunk spirit on the other hand was watching the entire thing, rather than fleeing.
“Just keeping my word,” I said.
“Initiate Dubough!” the blond Templar snarled.
“Henry…” Alexa said hesitantly as she looked back at me. I saw her hand tremble as the point of her spear wavered between me and the skunk.
“What are you going to do, Alexa? Stab me?” I asked, lips pursed. I didn’t put up a shield, didn’t step away. It wouldn’t help. I didn’t have enough mana to keep two shields going, not after all this. The best I could hope for was to stop the Templars from reaching the spirit briefly while it ran away. Which reminded me… “Hey, Skunky. Time to go. If you don’t, ain’t my fault.”
“Skunky?” the spirit snarled, its tail flaring higher.
I winced slightly, but I had little attention to spare for the spirit. Right now, I had a much more serious threat in front of me, one whose hesitation was visible on her face.
“Initiate. Why are you hesitating? Knock out the mage and allow us to finish this vile creature.”
“It’s not though,” Alexa whispered softly in defiance. “It’s not.” Her voice grew louder. “It just wants to live. We were the ones who trapped it first. Forced it—”
“It is a pagan creature,” the Templar said, his voice growing strident. “One that is likely to cause harm if left unchecked.”
“And so we trap it? Kill it?” Alexa asked, her eyes tight. “It might not believe in our Lord, but it is still a creature He made, and so long as it harms no one, should we not allow it the chance to come to the Lord on its own free will?”
“It is not human,” the Templar said. “It was not made in His image.”
“It still lives and thinks. It can still choose.” Alexa looked at the creature. “And who are we to judge him? Is that not reserved for our Lord? Especially for actions it has yet to take.”
“Initiate… no. No longer an initiate,” the Templar said. “I hereby declare, with the power vested in me as the Knight Templar superintendent of the third division, that Alexa Dumough, formerly an initiate of the Knights Templar, is from now on no longer a part of our order. Henceforth, any and all action taken by Alexa Dumough will have no association with the Knights Templar.”
The words were like a blow to Alexa, each sentence causing her to jerk. When he finished, Alexa straightened and turned toward them, her spear aimed at the trio without hesitation or trembling. Though, as she turned away, I noted how red her eyes were and the light glint of tears on her cheeks.
“Morons,” I mumbled. I’d add more, but before I could, the Templar gestured, and his buddies hammered the wall with their swords. The enchanted blades sent tangible feedback through my spell, making my knees buckle for a second before I forced them straight.
“Child!” the Templar snarled, but I noted how he did not move to attempt to harm me. Obviously they had read Alexa’s reports. There was no way Lily would allow them to harm me. Well, unless she considered this a social challenge, at which point I might take a bit of damage, but they didn’t need to know that.
“Oh, yeah. I’m the one with the monovision of how the world should work,” I snapped. Child indeed. These guys were like five-year-olds who were so definite in their view of the world, nothing—not even logic—could sway their mind.
Another blow and the Force Shield began to crumble. Finally the skunk spirit decided it had had enough and turned tail, bounding toward the fence. This made the Templars speed up their attacks on my Shield Wall. After the second consecutive set of blows, I could no longer hold the wall and it shattered. As the skunk crouched near the fence, its lips peeled apart at the charging Templars and raised its tail. This time around, I had a feeling it wasn’t just threatening.
“MOVE!” I shouted at Alexa, grabbing for her arm. I missed because the initiate—sorry, ex-initiate—had moved faster than me, having spun around, and reached for my own shoulder as she took off running for the door. I stumbled and followed along as fast as I could.
We almost made it.
The explosive spray covered ground fast, swamping the Templars first. They, unlike us, were ready for the assault, however, each of them clutching a cross around their waist that glowed with mana. The radiance from the cross covered their body, pushing against the spray and its noxious vapors. A part of me wondered how that spell managed to separate air from the spray itself—if it did. The rest of me was gagging, the vanguard of the spray reaching us already.
The door was thrust open by Alexa, and I was hauled in before it slammed shut. Not before the first wave of the spray entered though, causing the pair of us to bowl over, retching from the smell as our eyes watered and our skin prickled. Together, we staggered away from the door which was slowly allowing even more of the pervasive smell in.
“Henry…” Alexa croaked helplessly as we stumbled deeper into the abandoned orphanage. I understood her point. This smell from the spirit was more than just offensive; it was directly affecting the mana uptake and disbursement that occurred naturally. It had, basically, corrupted the mana all around, the direct effect of its earlier mana corruption multiplied a hundred times.
“The gym.” I hacked and coughed as I dragged Alexa to the room. Together, we burst through the double doors and felt relief almost immediately—at least from the mana effects, though the spray that stayed on our skin continued to irritate our bodies.
“First-aid kit…” Alexa said as she stood, stumbling away. I ran my mana in a simple Heal spell, pushing the edges of the irritation away, but as I sat up, I could not help but consider how bad things were, out there.
“We can’t stay here,” I announced even as I fumbled my bag off my shoulder. After pulling a block out, I began the frantic process of empowering it. Thankfully, the work around the fences and the gym had provided the blueprint for the enchantment I was casting.
Empower Cast
Synchronization Rate: 82%
Cleanse
Cast
Synchronization Rate: 72%
Yes! I tossed the block out, directly through the open doorway and watched as it landed in the hallway. The pair of linked spells began to work immediately, slowly grinding away at the corrupted mana. I watched for a moment to ensure the spell worked, watched the fluctuations in the spell formulas and then nodded.
Right. If I adjusted the third and eleventh line with Gaspard’s Second Elemental Rune, it should stabilize and increase the speed of the mana cleansing. Lips parted, I began the process of empowering the next wooden block.
As I tossed the second block away and reached for another, I was stopped by a hand on mine. I frowned, my eyes bloodshot and my nose clogged and snotty as I stared at the blonde faith healer who had a rag and pail in hand.
“What?” I said.
“Stop. You’re already low on mana. Take a few minutes, let me clean you up,” Alexa said, holding the rag up. Rather than protest, I sat quietly as she quickly worked me over, swabbing me with the sharp-smelling, slightly soapy rag.
“What is that?”
“Hydrogen peroxide, dishwashing liquid, and baking soda,” Alexa said. “I had to run out to the kitchen to get the last two, but luckily the kitchen is well insulated.”
“How…”
“Faith healer, remember? My ability let me push the miasma away. Now, hold still.”
When I tried to take the rag away, Alexa glared at me and I gave up. Rather than fight her on this, instead I focused on the next step. Two empowered cleansing blocks should be enough for the building, eventually. Of course, more would be better, but at least the doorway itself was fixed. The concern was the miasma that had spread—was spreading—throughout the neighborhood. It needed stopping.
Which meant…
Pendants. Or at least something to increase our resistance again and shield us against the miasma. I drew a ragged breath, testing my mana limits once again. The time resting while watching the skunk eat had allowed me to regenerate most of my mana, but it had taken a beating when the Templars had done their drum act on my channeled Force Shield.
If we could contain more of the miasma, the blocks I had contained and the runes around the gym would eventually deal with the mana taint, but—
“You’re frowning harder than Father did when we brought back the Evil Dead II movie,” Alexa said, prodding me sharply. “What is it?”
“That’s…” I shook my head and pushed it aside. No. Not right now. “I don’t have the mana. We need to fix the fence, but I don’t have the mana to fix the pendants and the fence.”
“Then don’t,” Alexa said, offering me a hand up. “I can shield us both.”
“Can you?”
“Yes. I might not be an initiate, but my faith has not changed. Nor our Father’s favor,” Alexa said confidently.
I drew a deep breath but nodded, grabbing my trusty backpack. “Then, let’s do this.”
We didn’t have time to wait.
Chapter 19
Outside, almost immediately, we were assaulted by the miasma. It attempted to cling to our bodies, to our skin, but the low, brilliant glow of power covering us pushed the miasma back and kept it from sticking. On the way, I scooped up the pair of blocks and dropped one off as we exited the building.
Outside, the effects of the miasma were already telling. The grass had taken on a slightly greyish tinge, the leaves on the tree curling up slightly. All around, I heard the hacking and coughing of individuals caught in the cloud, their bodies weakening as the mana they unconsciously circulated was slowly corrupted further and further.
Together, we hurried toward the fence. I found myself turning my head constantly as I attempted to locate both the Templars and the spirit. I noted neither were present, which was for the better at least. Hopefully, the skunk spirit had managed to get away. Otherwise, all of this had been for nothing. Then again, considering the amount of damage it had caused by its defensive measure, perhaps the Templars were right. Of course, that would be a better sell if the Templars hadn’t triggered the entire incident by being obstinate asses, so the entire incident could be considered as wash.
At the fence itself, we quickly found the first break in the runes. I frowned at the hastily scratched out rune and grunted. Fixing it with Mend—the physical portion anyway—was possible. It would just require delicately adjusting the spell formula while it worked, a slight alteration from my usual, almost careless use of the spell.
Mend Cast
Synchronicity 64%
Minutes later, I finally had the rune fixed. When I opened my eyes, the rune was indeed fixed if slightly worse off than before. With my practiced eye, I could see where the rune had not been mended correctly, where the lines were off, but as they said, it was good enough for office work.
“Next,” I said out loud.
We moved, shifting from spot to spot on the fence until we found another broken rune. Thankfully, there weren’t many, and they were mostly clustered close together. Each of them required Mend, but luckily that was not a mana-intensive spell, especially since the fixing I was doing was relatively minute. Still, toward the end, my head was throbbing again.
“How much longer?” Alexa asked, pushing against my arm slightly to get my attention.
“Just have to restart the spell,” I said softly, wincing as my head throbbed. When Alexa opened her mouth to ask, I just shook my head. Instead, I suited action to my words and raised my free hand and pressed it against the runes.
Restart the spell. It was easy, since most of the runes were already enchanted. I just needed to feed enough mana into the rune structure, fill the empty spots with the actual correct spell formulas, and blammo. Containment ritual complete.
Simple. If I wasn’t already running on fumes. If my head didn’t throb like a jackhammer. If the mana around me wasn’t corrupted and impossible to refresh myself from. Simple. I shuddered as mana flowed from me, drawn forth and pushed ahead by my will. My head throbbed further, my vision greying out as the light that encompassed us dimmed slightly, Alexa struggling to protect us. Simple. I licked my lips, a slight warmth and iron taste appearing on my tongue as the liquid flowed away. I reached out with my other hand unconsciously, wiping at the nose bleed even as the spell formulas danced in my mind and runes slid into place.
Simple.
With a thrum, the ritual burst into being around us. The press of mana on the ritual, a spell so intimately connected to me, made me waver. I frowned, noting how the world was leaning backward slightly and realized I was losing my balance. With a sweep of her feet, Alexa dropped me into her waiting arms and the princess carried me back into the orphanage.
“Block,” I managed to cough out, waving despairingly at my bag.
After a moment, Alexa pulled the second block out and tossed it onto the grounds before dragging my limp body into the gym. Inside, she sagged to the floor, sweat matting her pale hair.
“Lily’s going to kill us,” she said with a groan, obviously imagining how the jinn was going to complain about my mana overdraw. I wished I could answer her, but lying on the comfortable floor, my eyes decided it was time to close.
When I next woke, it was to the insistent prodding from Alexa hours later. With the major concentration captured within the fence, the remaining escaped mana had slowly dispersed or been cleansed. That left the pair of overworked empowered blocks to finish up the job on the inside. Unfortunately, I had also left the orphanage staff with pendants, which is how the abbess had managed to make her way back to glare at us.
“I know, I know. Leave,” I said with a huff.
“You and Ms. Dumough are no longer welcome,” the abbess pronounced, and I sighed. Well, duh.
“Of course.” Alexa bobbed her head in acknowledgement. “And I apologize again about the damage… and failing the orphanage.”
“Yes, you should be.” The abbess paused, then continued, her voice softer and slightly kinder. “However, t
he Templars have informed us that they have ensured we will be given the requisite time to complete the projects. And made a sizeable donation to deal with the inconveniences we have faced.”
I paused, my eyes wide. “Wait. They could have fixed this? Then why didn’t they?”
“This was a test,” the abbess said, her voice calm.
“But—”
“Henry.” Alexa placed a hand on my arm and shook her head.
“Why aren’t you angry about this!” I said, waving a hand around. “This, this was garbage. We went through all this for nothing!”
“Garbage?” Alexa asked softly, then shook her head. “We freed a spirit that was imprisoned for decades. We helped slow the spread of a dangerous drug. And… Okay, the mushrooms weren’t particularly useful.”
I snorted.
“But I also learned something about myself. And them.”
“What? Self-knowledge is the best knowledge?” I asked sarcastically. Sure, the test itself probably never placed the kids in any real danger, now that I knew what had been kept below. The skunk spirit might have been angry, and we might have ended up fighting it, but the abbess would never have let the children be around during such a battle. Even the mana poisoning had been a slow process, one that could easily have been fixed with a trip outdoors, but still—
“Yes,” Alexa said serenely.
I glared at the ex-initiate, but in the last six hours, she seemed to have gained a sense of peace over her decision. I opened my mouth to prod her further before I shut it. There had been flash in her eyes when I was about to speak. Perhaps she might have accepted her decision and the consequences, but the pain was still there. In the end, it wasn’t my place to prod her.
“Fine,” I grumped and then looked at the abbess who just stared at us serenely. I sighed and waved a hand goodbye at the woman, tromping outward. “Let’s go, partner.”